Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I caught Roy C’s “Shotgun Wedding” on the
ricochet when it hit the UK charts in 1972. I hadn’t been long into the music
thing. In those days BBC radio, and my limited pocket money, offered just about
the only opportunities to hear things. It was the heyday of the pop charts, and
with BBC Radio 1 operating a playlist it was easy to become very familiar with
the hits of the day. This would explain why “Shotgun Wedding” is indelibly
etched in my memory and I have always been fond of it. It struck me at the time
that in comparison to many of the other soul records in the charts at the time the
track had a sort of unsophisticated feel to it. This would, of course, partly have
been due to the fact it was first recorded in 1965/6. In fact due mainly to the
gunshot sounds on the record it was, I believe, received almost as a novelty record.

It is only recently that I have been listening
to more of Roy C’s not inconsiderable back catalog and it is evident, I think, much
of his output does have a sort of naïve quality to it. Maybe that accounts for
him never having another charting single, and I have to say at first I was
almost dismissive of what I heard, but there was something that made me listen
again. Roy has written most of the songs he has sung and they have never strayed
far from his Southern roots,in fact his music seems almost out of time. The
melodies and backing are often simple and Roy often part speaks his tales of
love and deception, but the magic is there and I am hooked.

Here’s a good
example. Something you can imagine listening to while gently rocking yourself
back and forth on the front porch….

But wait. I’m doubly glad I have given
Roy C some listening time because it means I discovered a record he cut back in
1970, initially on the tiny Pan Records label. This has elements of the finest deep
soul. I could easily imagine Percy Sledge singing this. A stunning track. Something
reserved for the back porch, in the dead of night.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Felt I had to share this one with you straightaway. This is from a charity shop trawl this afternoon. I am very pleased with my little haul (you may think I'm easily pleased). It kicked off with a hat trick of Easy/Pop albums (don't ask me why, I had a sudden inexplicable urge) - Melissa Manchester, Helen Reddy, and the Captain & Tenille! The Melissa Manchester album - Singin' - has a few decent tracks with a definite soulful vibe. Haven't listened to the others yet. Just before half time (at which point I got my ears lowered) I picked up the one you are going to hear and a nice Donovan EP, and then deep into injury time I finished things off with a Captain Sky 12" and an Osmonds album!!
As I pulled the change out of my pocket to pay for this 45 I noticed a very shiny new 50p piece. Before handing it over to the nice little old lady behind the counter I turned it over to find it had the football offside rules on the back!! I kid you not.
This is a great and groovy little track that is a B side. The Mike Vickers in the credits is, I am assuming, the same Mike Vickers that used to be in Manfred Mann.Off Side - Small Deal 1970
Oh, and what is this the B side of?

Friday, February 08, 2013

The concentration of vinyl in our
upstairs spare room (the “little box room” that used to be our daughter’s
bedroom) has been an increasing worry recently. Will the floor stand it? Isn’t it
starting to slope? I know we’ve had subsidence in the past, but is it the
weight of all the shelving and vinyl that has caused those cracks to reappear?

So, with the blessing of Mrs Darce, a new
Expedit was ordered and installed in the dining room cum hi-fi room. Some vinyl has now been relocated
from upstairs and I now feel a little less “structurally anxious”. I decided to relocate what I term as my “first phase” record collection, that is the albums
I bought back in the 70s and early 80s (a few of my more recent acquisitions – the special ones - have been allowed to be interspersed too) when I was just another person buying
records new, as opposed to the records I buy now in what I can only term to be
my addictive stage or, if I’m being kind to myself, my curating stage.

And so it is that I am reacquainting
myself with what, in all honesty, are my most cherished records, the ones I
have grown up with. They have been somewhat neglected for too long.

First to be pulled out was Don Covay’s
“Super Dude I”. This is an album that, as I remember it, I bought as a cheapy back
in the mid ‘70s and pretty much blind (Covay’s “It’s Better To Have” may have
been a signpost, but that isn’t on this album). Nevertheless I remember I
really fell in love with it and it was an album I would consistently go back
to. So it was natural I suppose that it was the first of these records emerging
from virtual hibernation to be pulled and played in its entirety. Most of the
album features songs that follow a familiar Southern Soul theme - cheatin’, two
timing, trying to love two, playing the field (multiple choice, all answers
correct). And mighty fine songs they are too.

But wait a minute - I don’t remember those
two tracks at the end of side two?! They don’t really fit in with the theme or
feel of the rest of the album. It is as if after all these years filed away
this album has metamorphosed, CD like, into an expanded edition!

One of the killer slow tracks “Leave Him”
is somewhat oddly split into parts 1 and 2 on the album. I can kind of
understand that, at over 8 minutes, it may have been deemed too long
for a southern soul album in 1973, but given that, the natural place to put part 2 would
have been the last track on the album I would have thought. Instead it appears
as track 4 on side 2 – just before these two tracks that I couldn’t remember.
And that I think lends some weight to the idea that these tracks were possibly included as afterthoughts – but what afterthoughts!

About Me

Welcome to my world

Mostly vinyl, mostly a private pleasure - until now.

Music posted here I have bought and gained much pleasure from listening to down the years (or months, or days!). So in the spirit of an 'all back to mine' it's time to share it.

DISCLAIMER: If you hear something you like I urge you to seek it out and purchase it in your format of choice. Mp3s found here are posted for a limited time and are for illustrative and previewing purposes only. If you are the creator or copyright holder of any material posted and object to it's appearance on this blog then please email me at darcyfeelit (at) blueyonder.co.uk and it will be removed forthwith.